Don’t be afraid of going backwards in your training. Some days we need to step back and practice some basics. While this can seem like failure or backsliding, ultimately it is what will propel you forward.

Here are some general guidelines that can help you when working with your horse.

Texas has an EHV outbreak after some big barrel races in central Texas. It can be scary for horse owners.

Yes a day late. Life has life a lot lately.

Yes late. I was out of town. I’m under the weather. My husband got deployed out of state as soon as I got home.

If you own a vehicle and drive that vehicle, you have to do maintenance. There will be oil changes, tires, ball joints, shocks and other miscellaneous repairs/maintenance to do. It’s considered normal wear and tear. Your vehicle will have a recommended maintenance schedule to keep it operational and get you down the road.

Correction is not a bad thing. Correction can be bad.

Yes late, I drove 18hrs straight through the night to get home so I was tired.

Yes, late. I wasn’t feeling well

From Jana: You can’t brace when you are trying to flow.

Yes late because I can’t keep track of days lately.

Your hand will drown out your leg. Your horse will not be able to focus on your leg if your hand is hanging on their face or in their mouth. Anytime I feel like the horse is dull to my leg, I try to give a release with my hand and try again. Most of us ride with too much contact. If we can’t just lay the rein in a finger to ride, it’s probably too much. It takes time to get there but riding with too much contact all the time ensures we never will.

We need to stop using words like stubborn, lazy, belligerent, high strung, marish, cold backed, etc. when describing our horses. These terms have no meaning in the horse’s world and they give us excuses to ignore pain and punish behavior we don’t understand.

Yes late. Life has been busy.

Bracing creates more bracing. It doesn’t matter if you are on the ground or in the saddle. Every time you are tempted to brace against your horse, hang on the rein/rope, pull, stop and give instead. Give for one step. Then repeat your request. Stop after three attempts. Reset, re-evaluate. Do not continue the brace no matter what. If you continue to brace against your horse you only teach your horse to brace. Your horse can make no other choice but to brace against your braci

Yes late. I’ve had a full plate troubleshooting for clients. I have had several messages this week with people frustrated over their horse’s behavior. They want to tell me the laundry list of things the horse did wrong. Many times I start the conversation with, “if I could ask your horse, what would they tell me about you?” I might also ask for them to tell me something that was good. If you catch me when I’m tired and cranky, you might get this response: “well you escalated

Consistently showing up goes a long way with your horse.

We must remember the horse is our partner. We have conversations with partners. We do not compete or go to battle with them (at least we shouldn’t).

If you don’t feel safe in an environment or with a person, you can’t relax or focus on anything but trying to figure out how to make yourself safe. The same is true of your horse, only more so because they are a prey animal. If they don’t feel safe they can’t learn.

Horses have defensive behaviors when they feel threatened. So do humans. When we feel insecure, our behavior and communication change. When our horse is concerned and feeling defensive it doesn’t instill confidence or security in us. Without proper conditioning and training of our nervous system, we revert to defensive behaviors. Unfortunately, this makes our horses more insecure and defensive. The chain reaction starts and the wreck is inevitable.